Guardians of Grail

cheapbag214s · Posted: Sat 4:31, 31 Aug 2013 Post subject: Bangladesh Cricket News-spun5

Bangladesh Cricket News
In February and March the coming year, Bangladesh plays host towards the ICC Under-19 World Cup. In a ordinary circumstances, such an undertaking would be routine, maybe even a nuisance. However for Bangladesh it's the latest, and to date the greatest,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], step in their accelerated development towards becoming a fully fledged Test nation. Yesterday, up to now another dispiriting home series ready to dribble to a conclusion,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the time had come to look towards the future, because the tournament was officially launched at Dhaka's Sheraton Hotel.
The 2004 Under-19 World Cup will feature 16 teams (two a lot more than appeared in last year's senior event) and 54 matches, all crammed right into a schedule of three weeks. By the time the competition reaches its conclusion on March 5, four new venues will have been inaugurated all over the country, with a brand new headquarters in Dhaka to follow along with. With any luck,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Bangladesh may have demonstrated to the world (but, more to the point, for their long-suffering supporters) that their cricket includes a future worthy of their status.
With a strangely coincidental quirk of fate, last night's launch happened exactly three years towards the day since Bangladesh's most uplifting moment within their short Test history. On November 11, 2000, and in front of the exultant crowd of 40,000, Aminul Islam scored a century on his Test debut as Bangladesh posted a total of exactly 400 within the first innings of the inaugural Test match,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], against India. 2 days later, however, they'd crumbled to 91 in their second innings, and defeat. It hardly needs pointing out that everything has never been quite as rosy since.
Many lessons have been learned within the intervening years, most of them painful, and not all of them limited to the Bangladeshis. The ICC themselves are a chastened gang of men. Yesterday their leader Malcolm Speed came as near every official to admitting they had jumped the gun with Bangladesh's Test status. "If they win a Test or perhaps a one-day series over the next 2 yrs," he explained, "we'll be fairly satisfied."
By the same token,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], however, all present were eager to emphasise Bangladesh's massive potential, also it wasn't just empty rhetoric. The fans might have been subdued during the Test series against England, however their goodwill for the game is way from exhausted - as demonstrated by some wildly enthusiastic support during Monday's hammering at Dhaka. Occasionally the scenes threatened to obtain a little beyond control, but Michael Vaughan was right to laugh off any dangers to England's players. Several good-natured food-fights and also the odd bonfire on a concrete terrace are hardly the stuff of international censure.
On the other hand, however, the fans' intense dissatisfaction with their captain,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Khaled Mahmud, is a clear warning that mediocrity will not be tolerated forever. The BCB should take heed. It would be a tragedy if Bangladesh's own opinion of the game was allowed to plumb exactly the same depths that it has occasionally reached abroad.
After today's match,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Bangladesh have a three-month break from international commitments, and also the emphasis will shift squarely onto the final preparations for next year's tournament. At last night's launch,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a stylish sterling-silver trophy was unveiled, along with a swooshing World Cup logo that apparently denoted "youth and movement" and "pace and energy". But every bit as intriguing as the unveilings themselves were the veiled threats that accompanied them.
"This is really a tremendous chance of Bangladesh," said the ICC's president, Ehsan Mani - an argument that might happen to be loosely translated as "Don't screw it up." There is no direct financial reward for hosting the big event, however in relation to infrastructure and global exposure, Bangladesh can get to reap what it sows. For such a young country, it is not far taken off being awarded the Olympics.
But, almost as much ast Athens is dawdling in front of next year's games, so Bangladesh is also cutting its preparations somewhat fine. The Divisional Stadium in Chittagong is a case in point. Situated about half-an-hour away from city centre,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it is among the five purpose-built cricket grounds currently under development. It hosts its first match last month 16, and expects to become fully up and running for India's Test tour in April.
The stadium itself is an unremarkable concrete bowl, whose stands are utilized by the local farmers to thresh grain,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and whose perimeter is patrolled with a large herd of cows. The pavilion is the only built-up portion of the ground, but at present it's a fog of construction work, with the top three floors remaining at their most skeletal stage, without the merest hint of plumbing, plastering, or electricity.
The constraints of Ramadan are hardly conducive to intensive construction work, however the tournament organisers are optimistic that everything will fall into place at the last minute, particularly with a lot cheap labour that may be asked inside a crisis. Of greater concern is your the brand new pitches. The ICC's second threat was a decrease in Bangladesh's overseas tours - an understandable move,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but one which runs counter to the development requirements from the team. The onus may soon fall on Bangladesh to equip themselves using the kind of pitch which will accelerate their progress - even if it dents their short-term prospects of that long-awaited victory.
To that end, Andy Atkinson,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the first kind head groundsman at Edgbaston and Newlands, continues to be drafted in to oversee the pitch preparations. With luck he will be in a position to coax more life out of the new pitches than was displayed during England's tour (using the notable exception of the Chittagong Test strip). This will, consequently,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], oblige the Bangladeshis to develop their techniques from the short ball. There isn't any point, as Dav Whatmore place it, of being "tigers in your own home, and pussycats abroad".
Last, but in no way least, they themselves have a duty to do - they have took part in every tournament since it became a biennial event in 1998, and as England discovered in their two first-class warm-up matches, there is no shortage of young talent in Bangladesh. In both games, England faced eight from the current U19 squad, and on both occasions they were held to draws, albeit rain-affected ones. Within the second match, the present U19 captain, Nafis Iqbal, scored an excellent century, after which he had the temerity to denounce England's spinners as "ordinary".
That's a charge which has rarely been levelled at Bangladeshi cricket,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], because their performances have rarely been anything but substandard. Three years ago this week, they tried to run before these were ready. But in the next few months, they have to walk,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and walk tall.
Andrew Miller was saved from a lifetime of drudgery in the City when his car caught fire in route to an interview. He took this as a sign and fled to Pakistan where he witnessed England's historic victory in the twilight at Karachi (or thought he did, at any rate - it was darker and uneven to inform). In addition to Pakistan, he has covered England tours in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, along with the World Cup within the Caribbean in 2007
India's batsmen are usually unstoppable in Rajkot-like conditions. A primary reason for his or her failed chase is the fact that age-old conundrum in Indian one-day cricket: whether to opt for seven specialist batsmen or otherwise
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